‘Abdu’l-Bahá

O Thou, my God, Who guidest the seeker to the
pathway that leadeth aright, Who deliverest the lost and
blinded soul out of the wastes of perdition, Thou Who
bestowest upon the sincere great bounties and favours, Who
guardest the frightened within Thine impregnable refuge,
Who answerest, from Thine all-highest horizon, the cry
of those who cry out unto Thee. Praised be Thou, O my
Lord! Thou hast guided the distracted out of the death of
unbelief, and hast brought those who draw nigh unto Thee
to the journey’s goal, and hast rejoiced the assured among
Thy servants by granting them their most cherished desires,
and hast, from Thy Kingdom of beauty, opened before the
faces of those who yearn after Thee the gates of reunion,
and hast rescued them from the fires of deprivation and loss—so that they hastened unto Thee and gained Thy presence,
and arrived at Thy welcoming door, and received of gifts
an abundant share.

O my Lord, they thirsted, Thou didst lift to their parched
lips the waters of reunion. O Tender One, Bestowing One,
Thou didst calm their pain with the balm of Thy bounty
and grace, and didst heal their ailments with the sovereign
medicine of Thy compassion. O Lord, make firm their feet
on Thy straight path, make wide for them the needle’s eye,
and cause them, dressed in royal robes, to walk in glory for
ever and ever.

Verily art Thou the Generous, the Ever-Giving, the
Precious, the Most Bountiful. There is none other God
but Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful, the Exalted, the
Victorious.

O my spiritual loved ones! Praise be to God, ye have
thrust the veils aside and recognized the compassionate
Beloved, and have hastened away from this abode to the
placeless realm. Ye have pitched your tents in the world of
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God, and to glorify Him, the Self-Subsistent, ye have raised
sweet voices and sung songs that pierced the heart. Well
done! A thousand times well done! For ye have beheld the
Light made manifest, and in your reborn beings ye have
raised the cry, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the best of all creators!’
Ye were but babes in the womb, then were ye sucklings,
and from a precious breast ye drew the milk of knowledge,
then came ye to your full growth, and won salvation. Now
is the time for service, and for servitude unto the Lord.
Release yourselves from all distracting thoughts, deliver the
Message with an eloquent tongue, adorn your assemblages
with praise of the Beloved, till bounty shall descend in
overwhelming floods and dress the world in fresh greenery
and blossoms. This streaming bounty is even the counsels,
admonitions, instructions, and injunctions of Almighty
God.

O ye my loved ones! The world is wrapped in the thick
darkness of open revolt and swept by a whirlwind of hate.
It is the fires of malevolence that have cast up their flames to
the clouds of heaven, it is a blood-drenched flood that
rolleth across the plains and down the hills, and no one on
the face of the earth can find any peace. Therefore must the
friends of God engender that tenderness which cometh
from Heaven, and bestow love in the spirit upon all humankind.
With every soul must they deal according to the
Divine counsellings and admonitions; to all must they
show forth kindness and good faith; to all must they wish
well. They must sacrifice themselves for their friends, and
wish good fortune to their foes. They must comfort the ill-natured,
and treat their oppressors with loving-kindness.
They must be as refreshing water to the thirsty, and to the
sick, a swift remedy, a healing balm to those in pain and a
solace to every burdened heart. They must be a guiding
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light to those who have gone astray, a sure leader for the
lost. They must be seeing eyes to the blind, hearing ears to
the deaf, and to the dead eternal life, and to the despondent
joy forever.

Let them willingly subject themselves to every just king,
and to every generous ruler be good citizens. Let them obey
the government and not meddle in political affairs, but
devote themselves to the betterment of character and
behaviour, and fix their gaze upon the Light of the world.